Emergency Kit in a Bottle Review and Giveaway

I got some goodies in the mail from The Ready Store last week, so I’ll have some reviews coming up of some fun products as I get them tested out. I’ve got their ad on the left sidebar–check them out when you get a minute. But first, I’d like to share the love a little after a quick review of one of the items: the ReadyBottle Emergency Kit.

This kit contains basic emergency preparedness gear all neatly packaged in a 32 oz polycarbonate water bottle. It is really a cute packaging idea and a fun gift or stocking stuffer for someone wanting to get started on an emergency kit or who could always use a few extra parts and pieces to add to what they have. When we first saw these bottled type kits a few years ago, always practical sweet husband said, “That doesn’t work. You won’t have water in the bottle when you need it if you keep all the stuff in the bottle, and what are you supposed to do with all the stuff when you put water in the bottle?” True. So what I’d do with a kit like this is empty the bottle out and put all the stuff in a bag, backpack, emergency kit, or car kit, then use the bottle for water. I also would not bet my life on an emergency kit that can fit in a 32 oz bottle. Really. Add to what is in the bottle or use it to supplement a kit you are already putting together and you’ll be better off.

Here is what is included: 32 oz water bottle with little carabiner, 5 function whistle/compass/matchbox, waterproof matches, emergency blanket, emergency poncho, random bandaids/antiseptic wipes/pain pills (first aid), light stick, mini LED light with batteries, 2 handwarmers, 12 function swiss style knife. No, it’s not a Victorinox Swiss Army knife, just a knockoff and I haven’t used it, but looking at it would guess it’s functional without being a really good knife. Same for the rain poncho, flashlight, and the water bottle itself. They will work and do the job for you, but not the highest quality. Seriously though, the whole kit couldn’t be $26.75 if it had really expensive high end components. So still a really good deal.

Yes, all the stuff did fit back in the bottle when I was done with the picture. Now for the giveaway. One of my amazing readers can win this bottle of fun for themselves or to give to a loved one. I’m going to run this one a little different than I have in the past. I still love you forever if you share a link to this giveaway on your blog or facebook or twitter or whatever and really you know you want to read whatever fascinating bit of blog post I happen to write so following the blog or subscribing is always a good thing. But for this giveaway, I just want a comment. And not just any comment, but I want to know something you’d like to do or learn to be better prepared and more self reliant. Or something you’re planning on learning or doing. Or something you planned to do but haven’t gotten around to yet. You could also tell me something you’ve done that you’re proud of. And maybe we’ll get some fun ideas of projects to try around here as well (not that I’m really lacking in preparedness project ideas of my own, but I want to know yours). That’s it.

Oh yeah, we’ll run this giveaway for a week, ending next Wednesday night, April 14th at midnight MDT, and I’ll ship it anywhere USPS ships, but we’ll have to check shipping restrictions if it’s shipping to another country and those out of the United States may be asked to help offset the extra shipping costs depending on where you live. Got all that? Good luck! :)

If you fold up a gallon size zipper bag, rubber band it, and include it in that bottle, you'll have a waterproof place to keep all that stuff in the emergency when you want to drink water from that bottle.

Something I want to do to be more prepared, in my urban Illinois climate, is to have a year-round wood pile and an indoor wood stove to heat my house when needed. I could survive TEOTWAIKI shivering in a tent in my living room all night every winter, but a wood stove would be pretty nice.

Hi! Thanks for the giveaway! I would like to learn how to collect the seeds from all the heirloom veggies I planted this spring. I also want to learn how to make more wheat-based foods, like tortillas and crackers, so I can do more than just bread with all this wheat.

I want to figure out generators. What size do I need? What fuel source is best (gas, propane, solar)? How to store the fuel, if relevant. Where to buy . . . And then to figure out if what I want is even legal in CA, thanks to all the additional clean-air restrictions. Can you help a girl out?

Oh I have a whole list of things I want to do lol…but I can summarize it with learning homesteading skills. I'm in the middle of turning over the entire back yard to begin practicing on my little urban homestead now.

I would like to learn how to garden. I mean really garden. I can grow chives, zucchini and carrots. But I want to learn how to make the soil want to grow food better, and learn when to plant and what to plant in my area. I live in a valley and for some reason, it isn't as warm here as in town or where everyone else has a garden overtaking their yards.

So that is what I am hoping to work on this spring and summer, maybe fall I have no idea!

I'm still trying to improve my canning skills. I did manage to can 5 jars of zuchinni marmalade last fall, but I need to learn how to can better. I have increased the size of my garden this year so I hope to have many more things to practice canning. I also have no clue how to use a pressure canner/cooker. Have one, but haven't tried it yet.

I want to work on getting a pump or something to get water out of our well if we lose electricity. We do have a small spring that we can use but for drinking I want to use the well. Love your site, thanks!

I would like to be able to fill our emergency kits with a weeks worth of food that does not need to be cooked and can be eaten cold. You may find yourself in an emergency situation where you are unable to cook anything.

A friend taught me to can meat last summer… Now I want to get to a point where I could get rid of my freezer and just rely on the bottom freezer in my frig – and I could if I would can more meats, and all the garden surplus instead of freezing them. Altho I will keep dehydrating some veggies.

We lose electric here so often that relying on the freezer is always a gamble – and I want to be able to get by without electric for extended periods if need be. The woodstove handles heat, light, and hot water, as well as cooking.

I'd like to be as self sufficient as possible. One step I'd like to take towards that end is growing and preserving all our food- particularly with methods like fermentation, root cellar-ing and growing a four season garden including feed for our animals. I'd also like to keep bees but that will have to wait till i'm not surrounded by toddlers :)

I have learned so much from your blog and others about preparedness that I want to get started and do some things. It will make me feel so much better when I do. It is on my list for when I get my taxes done. I need to do it for my family. Thanks for all of your inspiration, you are awesome!!!

I need to make a 3 month food storage plan/menu so that I know I actually can make meals my family will eat out of what I have in the pantry (mudroom). I have intended to do this for sometime, but find the whole thing kind of overwhelming.

I found your blog last night as my husband and I were discussing adding emergency food bars to our kits. We made your recipe today, but we added raisens and nut mix. It was pretty tasty. Just by adding those 2 things, bumped the calorie count up. So our loaf of emergency bread is 4000 CALs! Thanks so much for your blogLeslie

What a great idea to get kids involved in prepardness! Just finished reading "Hatchet" with my boys. Great book about a 13-year-old who survives in the wilderness. He would've been delighted with the meager contents of that bottle. I'll have my boys make their own kits, thinking about the story and the things they would need in a similar situation. Thanks for the idea!

At the moment I'm trying to learn about solar and wind energy on the cheap–diy. So that's a priority for me. I also want to learn about canning meats. I've done all types of canning – just not meats. It's a little scary for me.

I would still like to learn some good recipes to use my canned macaroni. My family just doesn't eat a lot of noodles, so I want to find a good recipe to incorporate now. Oh yes, and my husband is allergic to milk!

I live in hurricane country. AFter all these years I've figured out the best prep for a hurricane is a week's supply of food and water — and toilet paper, radio, supplies. More often than not one can live comfortably w/o elec or drinkable water with a little beforehand prep.

As a large family group, we have decided moms house will be THE place for all of us to go..and so we buy things for food and water storage every paycheck and we are working on getting them a generator and propane tank. It has been nice to do this as a family, and each month, we get closer and closer. We now are starting to look at thermal cookers and making them for each other and using them. We plan on testing alot of new gadgets this summer! I love your blog!